Friday nights in the fall are made for high school football. Watching from the press box, it is interesting to see all the many kinds of people showing up to support the different activities which take place during four quarters of a football game. Brent Tomberlin For a few hours, it seems most people are blessed and happy.
The student section is doing their thing. The parents are watching their athlete or band member perform. Some people simply come to eat the nachos and fries flooded with cheese and chili.
Still, others come to watch and revisit the glory days when it was their turn to be on the field. Everyone seems to have their favorite moments: Kickoff, the halftime band performance, the team prayer at the end of the game, the playing of the alma mater, the mad dash to the restroom at halftime, and perhaps the walk down a memory lane. As we say in the South, “It’s all good.
” And, of course, there is the best moment. The students carrying the American flag walk out onto the field before the game and our country’s National Anthem is played either through the sound system or by the marching band. For a few moments, no one is right or left, extreme or center.
For a few moments, gentlemen tip their hats in honor of something greater. Most people stand and stop what they are doing. Conversations, both silly and deep, end for a moment.
The focus is on the students with the rifles and the flags of the country and the state dipped in honor. The words and the music remind us we are Americans and that we live in a special country with rights heartily and angrily fought for. The moment reminds us of the lines from ‘America the Beautiful’ about “heroes proved.
” Just being able to stand for a bit and think about their sacrifices and have them wash over you brings goosebumps. We will never, never know how hard all those sacrifices were. Of course, as the anthem is playing, a few ignorant people continue to talk and move about the stadium.
Their disrespect is one reason our country is a bastion of freedom. In communist China, people get imprisoned for such ignorance. Here, we say to you, try to do better next time, and stop and think.
The playing of the National Anthem and the work of the color guard are some of my favorite moments at a high school football game. To see the moment from the press box is invigorating each home game. Last week, I looked over the crowd almost standing in unison and respect and was just reminded how great this country we live in is and how special its people are.
Afterwards, to see the home team come onto the field carrying the American flag almost chokes one up. Yes, we have issues we must solve. Yes, we have disagreements.
But we can have unity for a few minutes at a ballgame. And perhaps, moving forward, we can see more of the greatness and sweetness in each other instead of being divided by politics, race, and class. Because each of us, in our own way, has something to offer one another in this great country we live in.
Today, because of a bunch of different things, the word ‘great’ does not communicate concerning how special this land of ours—and our government—is. Words often lose a bit of their meaning if we do not stop to see and feel the deep definitions in them. We live in a republic like Rome before us.
We get a chance to elect our leaders. We also are provided opportunities to remove our leaders through elections. Our flag and anthem remind us we have many choices other people in other countries do not have.
To see Old Glory fluttering in the wind should make our hearts flutter, too. America is beautiful. In America, we all have choices and chances.
As the election season heats up, let us remember the unity which mostly happens at a high school football game during the National Anthem. Let us stand together knowing our freedoms are tied into the freedom of others. May we focus on the things we share first and our differences second.
Let us look into one another’s faces with a desire to communicate fully and gain some empathy. Let us not always see color, but the human heart. Let us not judge each other by the clothes we wear but think about how each of us can be a help.
In this week, when we revisit both the tragedy and the heroism in the wake of a terrible attack, we remember both how great our people can be and that freedoms are fragile. And if you need solace, and if you need to see one way this country is special, drive to a local football stadium on a Friday night, get out of your car, and hear the anthem’s tones waft out over a stadium filled with hundreds of people Hear the words and the music, watch the crowd stand in reverence and respect, and think about your own reasons for why the country is great and special. And go do something.
Do your part to keep it that way. Brent Tomberlin is a social studies instructor for Caldwell County Schools and teaches as an adjunct instructor at various other institutions. He can be reached at coachtomberlin@gmail.
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